


What We've Become

by generalatomicsgalleria (charmingotter)



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Animal Death, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Rose is an angry sniper mom, She'll Kick Your Ass, Sole Survivor: Rose, There is swearing, also swearing, more tags will be added as needed, she'll kick anybodys ass, she'll kick her own ass
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-10-14 17:18:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10541001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charmingotter/pseuds/generalatomicsgalleria
Summary: Rose’s life had become boring- there were no experimental drugs being pumped into her body anymore that made her a better soldier given to her at the risk of killing her, there were no more missions handed out to her by her almost lover who couldn’t help but smile at her when he saw her, there was no adrenaline and no recoil from her M24 sniper rifle when she squeezed the trigger knowing it would take a life- there was only a vitamin paired with another bland meal that was the same as yesterdays and the day before that that she couldn’t stand to eat a single time more, only a half soggy newspaper handed to her by her husband who wouldn't dare look her in the eye lest see the truth in them, there was only the squirming of a tiny baby boy in her arms who wasn’t even hers. Things changed though. Changing to the way things had been before her life was boring.She can’t say she’s terribly upset about it.





	1. Rose

**Author's Note:**

> First of a very special thanks must go to [The WriterOfFira](http://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWriterOfFira/pseuds/TheWriterOfFira). For listening to me whine about writing about all of this and for supporting me and telling me this was all a good idea. Love you. And a thanks to you, the reader, for well...reading lol. So I hope you enjoy the fic and feedback is always welcome. <3

Not too far ahead of where Rose stood were wild dogs fighting over something that hadn’t quite taken its last breath yet. As was the fashion these days. It should at least die with a little dignity though, she couldn't help but think. She fired a single shot into the air to scare the mongrels off and started making her way towards the creature. Squatting down next to it Rose realized it was another dog. One with a collar, she noticed, flicking the small, metal name tag over. An unloved pet. It had been shot once already. It was just suffering. 

Petting its black fur gently she spoke to it. “Well, _Jack_ ,” Rose said thoughtfully. “I think it's come time for you to rest.” It struggled for breath only a moment more before she but a bullet in its head. 

She sighed, holstering her pistol as she stood up. It was a shame, she thought, looking down at the poor mutt, but at least it wasn't suffering anymore. 

Her eyes flicked to the feral dogs that were still circling, despite the gunshots. Apparently they were hungrier than they were were scared. All Rose had really done was save them time, they would still make a meal of him. Perhaps if she had had more time she would have tried to change that, but she supposed that this was just how things had to be now. 

“Come on, Dogmeat,” she muttered, snapping her fingers at her own mutt. He was at her heels quickly enough and they continued on. She had never intended to bring any kind of companion with her on this journey, but the stubborn thing had refused to leave her side for even a second. She was stuck with him. Rose couldn't complain too much though, he was actually quite well behaved. And trained too. Really he was as good a dog as she had ever come across, but that didn't change the fact that he should've stayed with Preston and lived a nice safe life in Sanctuary rather than trek all the way across the Commonwealth with her sorry ass. 

Hooking a right down through an old alleyway, she stopped, realizing it was actually a dead end. _Damn, can't even remember the street layouts anymore? This was suppose to be an old shortcut. How scattered her brain had become exactly?_ Rose put a hand on the old brick wall and sighed. She was starting to feel everyone of those two hundred years if she was being honest with herself. Starting to turn back she stopped, the quiet sound of approaching footsteps giving her pause. 

Drawing her pistol Rose dared to peek around the corner to see who was making the noise. When she saw who it was she could have shot him right then and there. Probably wouldn't have been a bad idea either, if she weren’t so low on ammo. If she were honest with herself though, curiosity was what truly stayed her hand. She peeked back around to make certain it was him, half hoping that she was just being paranoid and it was just some lowly raider and she had been mistaken the first time. 

Even in the dim evening light she could tell it was him though. No doubt. He had been following her around for weeks now. Always dressed up in some weird outfit and not so subtly avoiding contact with her. His sunglasses were what always gave him away. If he had any sense he would have ditched them a long time ago. Admittedly, she hadn’t noticed him at first, too preoccupied with other things, but one could only not notice a strange man following them like this for so long. 

She thought she had lost him five blocks back, it was why she had come this route instead of the one Ellie had told her to take. Apparently her efforts had all been for naught. 

This was a good a time as any to settle this, she decided, a sudden flare of anger driving her forward as she stalked over to him. “Hey,” she shouted at him, an edge to her voice. If he knew what was good for him he wouldn't run off. That didn't look to be a problem though as he had stopped dead in his tracks, looking mildy uncomfortable with this new directness she was showing. 

Without hesitation, she shoved him back against the nearest wall. He let out a small yelp, and opened his mouth to speak, but she stopped him before he could get a word out, hauling him closer by the front of his shirt. Her own reflection glared back at her in his sunglasses. She looked like hell too, Beth would have told her she was a pretty little disaster (which she had always joked was a look that suited Rose). Her dark hair was greasy and pulled up in a halfhearted knot on top of her head. Tired circles under her grey eyes. And enough dirt and grime to form a new ecosystem. Maybe it would drive her point home though. _She was too tired and too busy to be fucking around like this._

“Listen,” she said, getting in close and hissing in his ear. “I don’t know who you think you are, or what you're trying to fix but if you don’t knock this shit off right now, I will make you regret it. And trust me when I say I know how.” Memories of the that cold, dark room of hers tickled at the edge of her memory, but she shoved them aside. Now wasn't the time. “Quit following me,” Rose growled. She shoved him back again and let go of his shirt. “I see your face again, I’m breaking it. And that’s a promise.” 

Turning on her heel, she left before he could say a word. The sound of laughter followed her down the street though, the sound echoing all around her. _Keep walkin’, Rosie._

The desolate streets of what used to be Boston had changed. She realized that more and more the longer she traveled. Everything was different now. Except maybe the people. Sure, there were some things had changed, but at their core people were the same as they had always been. Scared to death of what might happen next, but still stubbornly surviving against all odds. Good people anyway, she amended the thought. There were some who had lost their decency as human beings all together it seemed. They weren’t the same. 

Rose got so lost in thought that when she heard the noise she almost tripped over Dogmeat. Getting her footing again, she drew out her pistol. “What the hell was that?” Having become familiar with the Wasteland, Rose guessed it couldn’t be anything good whatever it was. The second time she heard it, she realized what it was. It was someone screaming. She moved towards where the noise was coming from without another thought. 

The dark made it a difficult to see, but the moonlight and that handy enhanced eyesight those drugs had given her so long ago, allowed her to get by without having to use her Pipboy as a flashlight. She was grateful too. Any light would have made her sneaking around pointless.

Amidst the rubble of crumbled buildings and old rusted cars was a man in a suit of power armor. Must have been with Brotherhood of Steel. Warily, she holstered her pistol and approached him. He didn’t have a gun or a helmet so she wasn’t terribly concerned, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be a hard fight should it come down to it. And while she was adept at hand-hand-hand, she couldn’t take on someone in a suit of power armor. Or at least she didn’t want to. 

“Move along, civilian,” the man told her when he finally spotted her coming forward.

Rose couldn’t help it, she snorted. _Civilian._ Now there was something she hadn’t been called in a good while. “And you are?” She dropped her duffel bag on the ground at her feet and pushing her rifle back further on her shoulder. She couldn't wait to hear what this one had to say for himself. Maybe she’d end up threatening this one too. 

He raised his chin at her. “Paladin Danse of the Brotherhood of Steel.” Well, she had been right. Of course. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise that they had their noses in whatever was going on here. They had their noses in everything as far as she could tell. She wasn’t sure she liked that either. They had effectively taken over a good deal of the Commonwealth, but it hadn’t been good for anyone but them as far as she could tell.

“I heard someone screaming. What’s going on, Paladin Danse?” She let just a trace of venom seep into her words.

“Nothing you need to worry about.” 

Rose put her hands on her hips. “Nothing to worry about, huh? Yeah, I’m sure that’s why I heard someone screaming.” She rolled her eyes. “People do tend to scream in terror when there’s nothing to worry about, huh? Silly me, thinking otherwise.”

“This isn’t a d-” 

Rose sighed and pulled her pistol out. He had gotten on her nerves long enough. “Ya know, I really don’t give a shit what this is or isn’t. I want to know what’s going on.” His jaw worked as he glared down at her. Bet he wished he’d worn that helmet of his now. She smiled at him and cocked the hammer back. “How ‘bout it, _Paladin Danse_? Will you tell me now?” She asked sweetly and gave him her nicest smile. Her old Captain, Atlas had been his name, had always said she needed to be nicer when asking for things. 

He sighed, his scowl deepening the longer he looked at her. “It was reported that there was a Deathclaw nesting in this area. We’re evacuating a nearby settlement.” 

Rose hummed. Another Deathclaw. First Concord, now here. Damn things were everywhere. The first one had nearly killed her. And Preston. Shaking her head, she continued her questioning, “Why are people screaming then?”

He shrugged. “I assume because some of them didn’t want to leave.”

“Then that’s not evacuating,” Rose rolled her eyes. “That’s evicting.”

“It’s unsafe,” he hissed at her. As though that justified forcing people from their homes in the middle of the night. 

Rose shook her head. “The world is unsafe, Paladin.” Taking people from their homes in the middle of the night to avoid a possible Deathclaw wasn’t going to help anything in those regards. In fact, the screaming was probably making them less safe than they were before the Brotherhood had gotten there. Paladin Danse had nothing to say to her at that though and so she went on, “What have you been doing here? Why aren’t you with everyone else?”

“I’m keeping watch.” The man ground out, obviously becoming more and more annoyed with her. 

“For the Deathclaw?” She asked just to pester him further. 

“Yes,” he hissed the word at her. 

“Without a gun?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Someone else needed mine.”

“Right. That makes total sense,” she snorted. Weren’t these guys suppose to be smart? He took a step towards her, hands coming up as if to snatch away the gun in her hands, but she raised it again. Rose gave him a pointed look. He thought she wouldn’t do it. If only he knew how easy it would have been for her to end his life and not lose a wink of sleep over it. 

A small smile crept up on Rose’s face as she stood there, gun in her hand as she suddenly remembered something Atlas had once said to her. “And have you ever fallen over trying to put on a pair of pants?” She asked. 

The Paladin’s head snapped up.“What?”

“You heard me,” she grinned and wiggled the pistol a little, reminding him what was happening here. “Have you ever fallen over trying to put on a pair of pants?” 

“Really?” He scowled. 

“Really,” she said, stilling grinning. _‘If you can’t have a good time holding a man at gunpoint then what’s the point?’_

“Yes,” he admitted, his voice low. The glare he sent her could have killed. She didn’t care. 

Rose laughed, “Ah, lovely. That’s _fun_ to know.” She nodded to herself. Atlas was right. If you couldn’t have fun doing these sorts of things then what was the point? After a moment she stopped and sobering up a little she said, “Now, if you could point me in the direction of your buddies.”

“Why would I do that?”

She raised an eyebrow at the man. “Do you not see the gun?” He scowled at her. Rose gave a small nod and smiled. “Right, so, where are your friends?” Without a word he raised a stiff hand, pointing behind himself. She nodded again. “Lead that way then, Paladin.”

When he didn’t move Rose sighed and fired a shot at his feet. “Maybe I’m not making myself clear enough. Lead the way, Paladin,” she repeated, an edge to her voice, “or I’ll kill you here and now and find your friends on my own.” 

He started walking. “What do you plan to achieve by doing all this?”

Oh, if only she had an answer for him. It was pointless to try and save everyone, that she knew, but it was too late to do anything else. Once you pull a gun on someone you’re in too deep to do anything but move forward. “We’ll call it an old habit,” she finally said after a moment. Running towards screams was what she did. What she has always done. Why stop now?

Paladin Danse turned around to look at her. “This doesn’t seem-” He broke off, his mouth falling open as his eyes focused on something behind her. 

Rose cocked an eyebrow at him. “What? My sheer beauty just too much for ya, Paladin?”

Paladin Danse eyes flicked back to her. “Don’t move and don’t panic,” he told her, his voice even, but barely audible. “The Deathclaw is behind you.”

Rose closed her eyes and took a deep breath before turning to look behind her. Pure panic kept her feet firmly planted where they were. It was a Deathclaw, no doubt about it. And she was fucked. It was looking right at her. Her hand was shaking when brought her pistol up, aiming it at the thing. _Don’t let fear be your downfall, Rosie._ The first shot went wide, the sound of it seeming strangely far away. So did the second. It was coming for her now and getting closer by the second. The third hit probably only because it would have taken an act of God for her to have missed. She realized Paladin Danse had been shouting at her to get out of the way the entire time when it knocked her to the ground. 

Her head struck the ground hard enough for her vision to go starry for a second. Fuck. Her rifle had skidded a few feet away, but she had held onto her pistol for dear life. Someone would have to pry it out of her cold, dead hand at this rate. Aiming the barrel towards the thing’s chest she squeezed the trigger twice, hoping to hit something vital. It roared in her face, clearly displeased by the act. She had only a moment to throw her arms up in a single act of defense before razor sharp claws were tearing into her skin. The pain was astonishing and would have been enough to take her breath away had she been able to breath at all. 

Gritting her teeth through the pain Rose pushed her arm down again and pressed her pistol into the Deathclaw’s abdomen. How many shots were left? She couldn’t remember, but fired another into its abdomen. It threw it’s head back, crying out in pain, claws sinking deep into her. 

The Deathclaw had just gotten in her face again when Rose made a split second decision and shoved her arm into its mouth, teeth ripping her skin and clothes apart the entire way, she prayed, prayed like there was actually somebody up there listening to her, that there was one last bullet. She squeezed the trigger.


	2. Anubis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deacon is a liar, but a liar with an idea and he knows just the man- or rather ghoul- for the job...but first! some ranting about frustrating Vault Dwellers...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Find me on tumblr [here](http://generalatomicsgalleria.tumblr.com/) if you wanna see some of the [other things I write](http://generalatomicsgalleria.tumblr.com/fics/)

“Anubis.” A hand shook his shoulder gently. “Anubis.”

He groaned, not even opening his eyes. “The hell you want now? I _just_ laid down.” Unfortunately he knew Washington wouldn’t be trying to get him up if it weren’t for a good reason. 

“Deacon is here,” she said. A pause. “Again.”

He groaned again. “That fucker needs to go home.” He had been around too much lately. Three people were far more than enough to hold down their assignment here. An assignment that really only needed one to begin with. Not to mention how Deacon’s constant paranoia annoyed him. 

“The fucker is right here,”’ Deacon announced coolly and Anubis felt a cold finger poke him in the face. He cracked an eye open and found Deacon standing directly over him. Close enough for his breath to fog up the man’s sunglasses. “Never seen you without your hat on before.” Washington left without another word, her footsteps echoing off the stone walls that made up their bunker. 

Anubis rolled his eyes, pushing Deacon away. “Yeah, well, why don’t you take off those sunglasses and we’ll call it even.” Deacon snorted, but didn’t offer anymore of a response as he stepped away. Letting him get awake and to no doubt to snoop a little while they were still in what counted as Anubis’ bedroom. 

Anubis swiped his hat up off the floor where it had fallen beside the bed before dragging his tired bones up so he was sitting on the side of the bed. He plopped the hat back on tiredly. Looking in the mirror across from his bed made him regret hanging one at all. Why had he done that again? He looked like death warmed over no matter what, why bother? Being a ghoul was a ghastly sight, but one he was used to though. Still, he missed his hair. He shook his head at himself in the mirror. No point in dwelling on these things. At least he had his hat to cover his head though, that was a small comfort he had.

“Why are you here?” He asked quietly, looking over at Deacon as he pulled his old sneakers over to stick his feet in. He hadn’t even bothered to unlace them when he had kicked them off earlier. He didn’t want to put them back on either, but whatever Deacon wanted, which couldn’t be good, was going to require some effort on his part he knew and he would need to go outside for that. Stale, sewer air wasn’t conducive to his thought process, Anubis has come to learn. 

“What a guy can’t just stop by? Say hello?” Deacon cast a glance over his shoulder at him before continuing to rifle through the things on his desk. 

Anubis shrugged. “A guy can, sure. You? No.”

“Are you saying I’m not a guy?” He couldn't see his face but he knew by his tone that Deacon was grinning. 

“I’m saying-” Anubis broke off a yawn interrupting his words. “I’m saying,” he began again, “That _you_ never come by to just say hello, Deacon. What do you want?”

The room was silent for a moment, the only noise the tiny bugs relentlessly banging themselves against the flickering overhead light. Deacon turned back to face him, fidgeting with his sunglasses for a moment before he spoke. “Advice,” he finally said giving a small shrug. 

“Advice?” 

“Advice. Help. Whichever.”

“What's the problem?” Already Anubis was skeptical. Deacon was always plotting something or another. And if he had to be involved in it, and he didn’t want to be, he wasn't going into whatever it was blind. 

“You remember that woman I've been tailing?”

He chuckled. Would have been hard to forget her. Deacon only complained about her every single time he swung by. Always going on about the mysteriously hard to track, fucking shit up at every opportunity in the best ways possible, Vault Dweller. “Did you lose her _again_?”

Deacon crossed his arms, letting out a small frustrated noise. “I didn’t lose her, okay? I just thought...a retreat...might be a good idea.”

Anubis grinned. Oh, there was a story there. “So, what happened exactly?”

“Well,” Deacon said, rubbing the back of his head gingerly and looking away. “I was kind of-”

“The truth,” Anubis commanded, giving him a stern look. 

Deacon huffed, his lips twitching into a scowl, obviously annoyed to have been called out on his lie before he even started. “She caught me,” he said, sounding rather irritated by the fact. “And then she threatened me with bodily harm if she saw me again!” He threw his hands up in exasperation, as if she were the one in the wrong here.

Anubis couldn't say that he even found this development especially surprising. If he were the one being followed like this he would have snapped long before the Vault Dweller had. What did surprise him was how easily this Dweller was getting on in the waste. What, did they have a survival classes down there? Where had this little lady learned her tricks?

He looked back at Deacon with a sigh. This was really bothering him though. God knows why. Couldn’t have been the first time a mark had caught him. Or the first time anyone had threatened him. “Let’s go for a walk.” Anubis walked out without checking to see if Deacon was following him. 

Their safehouse was not the nicest, cleanest, or most charming place to live, he couldn’t help but think as he picked his way through the sewer that he’d been calling home for the past three months. Through a series of dimly lit, and disgustingly wet tunnels, they made their way to their main gathering area. The least wet part of the entire place.

A while back they had even moved in some furniture. All of it ugly as sin of course, but a place to sit was a place to sit. Washington was laying on the sofa, long brown legs thrown up on the back of the couch completely relaxed as she played with one of his throwing knives. He plucked it out of her hands and threw it at the dark board on the far wall. Bullseye. 

Washington gave a low whistle. “Nice one, Boss.”

He hummed. With two-hundred plus years of practice it was hard to miss.“We’re going up. Back in half an hour tops.”

Washington shrugged. “I'll be here I guess. _Wasting away_ ,” she blinked up at him with woefully big brown eyes. “My talents going to waste.” She sighed dramatically.

“...Right. Well, while you're wasting away, pack up. We’re outta here in a couple a days.” 

She perked up a little at that. “Oh? We’re getting out of this dump?”

“Any day now,” Deacon said from behind him. “And I can personally promise you that the next safehouse won’t be underground.”

“Really?” She grinned, looking between the two of them. “Do you think maybe we could go somewhere like a- like a, I don’t know, a farm? Or maybe somewhere near the river?”

Anubis chuckled, reaching out to ruffle her hair. “I’ll see what I can do, kid.” Of all the synths he had protected over the past few years, Washington was his favorite. She was tiny, at least a foot shorter than him, and couldn’t lift anything heavier than twenty pounds, but she had to be the bravest, most eager person he had ever met. He wondered if the Institute had meant her to be that way.

When they got up to the surface- and more importantly the fresh air- Anubis took a deep breath, only to let it all back out in a deep sigh. He turned to look around at Deacon. “What’s the matter, Deacon? It’s not the Vault Dweller that’s got your feathers ruffled.” God knew Deacon was a paranoid sonuvabitch, but more often than not he was justified. “What’s wrong? Did something happen at HQ?”

Deacon shook his head. “I’ve just been hearing some weird stuff lately and the Brotherhood have been on our asses a lot...Too much to ignore anymore.”

“Well, don’t think I can be an inside man here for you.” He gestured to his ghoulish self. The Brotherhood had already done a number on him when he had made the mistake of trying to join their ranks before he found the Railroad. His knees hurt when it rained now. 

“Well, I have an idea...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of a very special thanks must go to [TheWriterOfFira](http://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWriterOfFira/pseuds/TheWriterOfFira) for listening to me whine about writing about all of this and for supporting me and telling me this was all a good idea. And a thanks to you, the reader, for well...reading lol. I hope you all enjoy the fic and any feedback is always welcome. <3


	3. Rose

Rose had been in enough medical facilities to know that she was in a medbay without opening her eyes. It smelled like one at any rate; the unmistakable stench of blood and chemicals trying to mask it burned her nose.

Opening her eyes she saw there was an IV in her arm. Definitely a medbay. Rose shook her head, gently pulling it out. Looking around she saw nothing in particular that gave away her actual location, but she knew she was with the Brotherhood of Steel that was for sure. It didn’t matter though. She had to leave. When she tried to sit up she couldn’t though, at least she wasn’t going to without a lot of pain. Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself that she could handle pain. She had been in enough in the past to know she could grit her teeth and do this. Right when she had made the decision to try to make her escape again, someone interrupted her. 

“Goddamnit. Again?!” A man asked incredulously as he walked into the small room with her. Or at least it was small by Rose’s standards, maybe she had been in too many big medical facilities though. 

The man’s head was shaved and he wore a very stern expression that seemed to be permanent. He had a sweater on underneath his armor- which Rose thought was entirely practical of him, it was obviously freezing wherever they were. He sighed at her, walking closer to her bed. “You know I would really appreciate it if you would stop pulling your IVs out every time you wake up.”

Rose frowned up at him. “How many times have I woken up?” She didn’t remember anything, that couldn’t be a good sign. Had they had this conversation before?

“Three, but this is the first time you’ve been coherent enough to speak.” He shrugged and rolled a stool over by her bed to sit down. “I’m Knight-Captain Cade,” he introduced himself. “I’ve been your doctor this past couple of days. How are you feeling?”

Rose regarded him thoughtfully for a moment. She had also met a lot of doctors and generally speaking, they fell into one of five categories. There were five types really- the mother hen, the hard ass, the ‘I’m only here for the medicine’, the one that hates everything and loathes their job, and, the one you want, the best of the best, top of their class, will save your life before their own, the true healer. 

Finally, she said, “I’m fine, thank you, but I need to go.”

He sighed again. “Well,” he said, eyebrows drawing together, “I can’t stop you, but I would strongly recommend you stay here a little while longer just so I can keep an eye on your progress. I had to do an extensive amount of work on you, Miss…” he trailed off, obviously searching for her name. 

“Tanner,” she supplied, ignoring the thought to lie. There was no reason for that now anyway. “Rose Tanner is my name and I really do need to go.”

He nodded understandingly. “Like I said, I can’t stop you. Would you, please, let me examine your stitches and other wounds before you leave though?” 

Rose stared at him. He seemed to be truly concerned about her well-being. “Fine.” Whatever it took to get out here. 

“Can you sit up for me?” He asked. 

Determinedly, she gritted her teeth, sat up, and promptly fell back with a small huff of air. She didn’t look at Knight-Captain Cade, choosing instead to stare at the door past the end of her bed. The urge to leave was stronger than ever. Pain laced up through her abdomen like fire though and she knew she was going to have trouble even walking without help right now. 

“Did that hurt?” He asked, there was a surprising lack of smugness to his tone. _‘Never lie to your doctors, Rose,’ she heard Sam telling her. The prick of a needle being pushed into her arm. ‘I need to know immediately if you’re having any problems.’_ Stiffly, Rose nodded. Knight-Captain Cade came a little closer. “May I?” He gestured to her bandaged stomach. Again, she nodded. 

His fingers were gentle, but it still stung when he pulled the bandages away from her heavily stitched abdomen. “It’s probably going to hurt for a while,” he told her. “You had four cracked ribs, a broken arm, massive blood loss, and damage to several internal organs.” He paused, pursing his lips in consideration of the next part. “There didn’t seem to be anything wrong with your head as far as I could see, but I imagine it’s hurting from what I was told by Paladin Danse.”

Now that he mentioned it, there was a dull ache throbbing in her skull, but Rose was far more concerned about Paladin Danse. “What did he say?”

“That you unknowingly wandered into a dangerous area and were attacked by a Deathclaw and won,” he shook his head, a small smile creeping onto his lips. “I have to say, if it weren’t for the proof of your injuries and knowing Paladin Danse so well, I wouldn’t have believed it.” He prodded a little at her upper stomach, watching her to see if she flinched in pain. 

She understood his disbelief. She had been the one there and she was having trouble with what happened. What had that thing even been? She’d never seen anything like that before. Besides she wasn’t used to fighting animals. Men, men should handle. She knew countless ways to deal with people attacking her, but animals were a sort of gray area for her admittedly. “Did I kill it?” Rose asked suddenly. 

“What?”

“The lizard thing that almost killed me, did I kill it?”

“The Deathclaw? Yes, I’m told by Initiate Taylor that it was dead when they took off with you.” Good, Rose thought, there were already enough things trying to kill people now, if there were one less than all the better for everyone, right?

Finally, he pulled her bandages back into place and grabbed her arm gently turning it back and forth, asking once or twice if anything hurt. “So, your bones all look good. Especially that arm, I was worried I was going to have to break it again to get it to set right, but it looks like it healed properly. The stimpaks I gave you seem to have done the trick there, but the stitches I put in are still healing so that’s going to take some time as well as the internal injuries, but really everything looks good, better than expected actually,” Knight-Captain Cade told her. “I still think you should stay with us for a while though. Just in case.”

Rose shook her head. “I can’t. I...I have something I have to do. And anyways I don’t have any caps. I’m sorry, but I just can’t.” She really was sorry too. It’s not like she was excited about having to go back out there like this, but her injuries couldn’t stop her from her goal now. She had to find Valentine and then they had to find Shaun. 

“Caps won’t be an issue,” he informed her. “We’ve already settled all that. It’s just a matter of getting you to postpone whatever it is you think is so urgent, apparently.”

Rose frowned, considering. “Why do you want me to stay so bad? Plenty of people get hurt around here, I’m sure you don’t hound them as much as you have me.” 

Knight-Captain Cade shrugged. Both Paladin Danse and Elder Maxson have deeply expressed to me that they would like to speak with you and recruit you if possible.”

“Recruit..To the Brotherhood of Steel?” Rose shook her head. “Unlikely...No offense,” she added after a moment. 

He shrugged. “None taken. I’m just here to make sure you don’t die,” he chuckled. 

It was a tempting offer, she couldn’t lie. Rose sighed. “I could only stay a couple of days.” Two days. That was the most time she was willing to let slip by. Two days was enough to get her back on her feet. Sam had timed her healing rates once, she knew it didn’t take long. “And I couldn’t stay without giving you some sort of payment.”

He sighed. “Well, we could always use a few extra hands around here. Nothing too strenuous,” he warned. “Paper work only.”

“I can do that.” 

“So, you’ll stay?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “And thank you. I appreciate you letting me stay like this.”

He patted her shoulder, smiling at her. “It’s no trouble, Miss Tanner. I’m glad to have you. Unfortunately, I have to go attend to some other things right now, but if you need anything, tell one of the Initiates who pass through. They’ll get you whatever you need.”

He stood up to go, but Rose stopped him. “Where’s my dog?” She asked. “And my things.” Suddenly, she felt a little queasy, thinking about Dogmeat left alone out there in the waste somewhere. He shouldn’t be alone. Not when it was so dangerous out there. 

“Your things are in a storage locker and you can go get them whenever you like. Your dog,” he shook his head, “has made fast friends with everyone. He’s around here somewhere.”

Rose rolled her eyes. Dogmeat had made friends with everyone, no big surprise there. “Thank you, Knight-Captain Cade.”

He nodded. “Of course.” And with that, she was alone again.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, and you can find my tumblr [here](http://generalatomicsgalleria.tumblr.com/) where you can find out more about Rose and my other characters if you'd like


End file.
